Facts are annoying if they get in the way

Bing West raises good points about pop-centric COIN:

• There was no state-building or pop-centric coin in Anbar Province where the Sunni Awakening began.
• The Sunnis came to the US for help; the US military did nothing to win their hearts and minds.
• “If NATO so alienates the population by accidentally killing civilians that many more join the Taliban, then why do the Taliban deliberately kill three times as many ordinary Afghans without causing three times the backlash, leading to their defeat?”

See Captain’s Journal for an excellent and detailed analysis, as opposed to my mediocre and short one.